Flint wall and 19 attached pet tombs, Lakenham, Norfolk

Summary

A row of 19 pets’ tombstones, of various dates from 1891 to 1922, and the abutting flint rubble wall, believed to be the original precinct wall of Carrow Priory, with phases of later rebuilding.

Description

MATERIALS: the wall is flint rubble and brick and the pet tombs are ashlar.

PLAN: the 19 tombs are laid out in a line running south to north with the adjoining wall on the east side.

EXTERIOR: the tombs all consist of ashlar kerbs on three sides, with the fourth side formed by the existing flint wall. They are similar in size although the later tombs are slightly smaller. The most recent is the smallest tomb, with decoratively chamfered kerbs, and is the only one with an ashlar cover between the kerbs. Starting at the southern end they have incised inscriptions as follows-

“LADDIE 1899”
“LEO 1898”
“DUKE 1898”
“JOHN DIED APRIL 1891”
“LITTLE JOHN DIED – (date illegible)
The next two tombs are partially buried and the inscriptions cannot be read.
“JIM DIED 1904”
“JACK AGED 11” (date illegible)
“CHAPPIE BORN 1897 DIED 1907”
“CHRIS BORN- DIED-“ (dates illegible)
“JOCK BORN 1899 DIED NOVEMBER 19TH 1911”
“SNIPPET BORN 1899 DIED FEBRUARY 24 1913”
“DON BORN 1903 DIED OCTOBER 23 1911”
“JO BORN 1911 DIED MAY 2 1921”
“RUFUS DIED SEPTEMBER 1922”

The wall to which the tombs are attached is of flint rubble with three courses of blue bricks at the top and a coping of blue bricks laid on edge. It is supported by a number of shallow brick buttresses on the east side. The wall has areas of different sized flint, some in nodule form and others knapped, and its thickness varies, indicative of a number of historical phases of rebuilding. The south end has an area of machine-made red brick rebuilding from the late C20.

History

The historical development of the Carrow Works site in Norwich, until 2020 the former home of Colman’s, one of the world’s oldest condiment milling producers, dates back to 1146 when King Stephen granted land in Carhowe (Carrow) to the nuns of the Church of St Mary and St John for the founding of a Benedictine priory (Scheduled and listed Grade I). After the Dissolution most of the priory fell into ruin with the exception of the prioress’s house which came to be known as Carrow Abbey. The priory estate passed through various hands, being acquired by Philip Martineau, an eminent Norwich surgeon, in 1811. In 1850, land immediately to the north of the Carrow Abbey estate was purchased by the successful mustard, flour and starch milling business of J and J Colman Ltd from the Norfolk Railway Company. Along with developing the factory complex, J J Colman also extensively rebuilt a mid-C19 villa on the site between 1860 and 1861, turning it into a family home called Carrow House (Grade II). The work is thought to have been carried out by the Norwich architect Edward Boardman (1833-1910); and later an extension and conservatory were added in 1895.

During the late C19 J and J Colman Ltd systematically acquired adjoining parcels of land on which to expand, including the purchase of the Carrow estate from the Martineau family in 1878. By 1926, the premises had expanded to cover some 50 acres and had a frontage of nearly a mile along the River Wensum. While mustard, flour, starch and laundry blue were still the main products produced at Carrow, Colman’s had started producing "Patent" barley, "Patent" groats and "Waverley" oats in 1925 following the acquisition of rival mustard maker and cereal producer Keen Robinson in 1903. In 1938 Colman’s merged with Reckitt and Sons Ltd, a firm producing household products such as polish and bleach, to form Reckitt and Colman Ltd. In 1995, the mustard and condiment side of Reckitt and Colman Ltd was sold to Unilever, while Robinson’s was acquired by Britvic. In 2017, Britvic announced it would close its Carrow Works factory in 2019, prompting Unilever to review its own future on the site, which led to a decision to cease production in 2020.

On the domestic side, Carrow Abbey was remodelled and extended between 1899 and 1909 by Edward Boardman for James and Laura Stuart (the eldest daughter of J J Colman). Boardman also designed a range of ancillary buildings within the immediate vicinity of Carrow Abbey, and was probably responsible for the lodge, gardener’s cottage and former cart shed (1880-1881) and a dwelling known as Stable Cottage (about 1909).

Pet cemeteries started to be created from around the mid-C19, such as the public pet cemetery in Hyde Park in London, dating from the 1860s. Landowners tended to bury their pets on their private land as with the Colman family’s pet cemetery near Carrow Abbey. These memorials date from between 1891 and 1922 and commemorate 19 pets, probably all dogs. Historic maps show that there was originally a serpentine path through the gardens and the cemetery was positioned adjacent to it, so that it would be passed regularly as family members and guests wandered through the gardens. The individual tombs were built into the existing flint wall, part of which may have originally been the precinct wall to Carrow Priory (scheduled monument). The first tombs were placed at the southern end, and as more pets died their graves were added towards the north.

Reasons for Listing

The flint wall and 19 attached pet tombs are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:

* as an unusual example of a private pet cemetery spanning a period of 31 years;

* as an illustration of the attitude of the Colman family to their pets, and of social attitudes to pets in the late-C19 to early C20;

* most of the pets’ names remain legible on the tombstones;

* the wall, although much rebuilt, has medieval origins as part of the precinct wall to Carrow Priory, a scheduled monument.

Group value:

* they have strong group value with the Grade I listed Carrow Abbey and with the lodge, gardener’s cottage, former cartshed, and sunken garden (all listed at Grade II).

External Links

Historic England Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.